Frances Cockburn

Frances Cockburn

About Frances Cockburn

I live in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. I have exhibited my paintings in numerous solo, two-person and group exhibitions, and my work is collections around the world.
I paint what is around me – downtown Hamilton, nearby landscapes, and more recently, the people close to me. For rural paintings, I often work on location, while urban paintings and portraits generally develop in the studio from photographs or video stills.
Lately I've been exploring figures, portraits and swimmers. The figures in water feel like a natural extension of painting swamps and wet roads.
My goal is to paint what I see, but not copy what I see. I am interested in creating a work that is realistic and recognizable, but I am not aiming for "high realism". I try to get at the truth of something, while letting the paint itself be part of the story. That may be through visible brush strokes, drips, scumbled layers of broken colour and abstract passages. When I'm painting, I often think of Picasso's idea that art is a lie that allows us to get at the truth.